Scrapy vs Crawlee: Which is Better?

Scrapy and Crawlee are both web scraping frameworks, but they cater to different needs. Let’s compare them to determine which one is better for your project.

1. Overview of Scrapy and Crawlee

What is Scrapy?

Scrapy is a Python-based web scraping framework designed for large-scale, high-speed data extraction. It uses asynchronous requests for efficient crawling.

Key Features of Scrapy:

✅ Asynchronous and fast for large-scale scraping.
✅ Handles pagination, retries, and request throttling.
✅ Supports CSV, JSON, and database exports.
✅ Requires Selenium or Playwright for JavaScript-heavy sites.

What is Crawlee?

Crawlee is a JavaScript/TypeScript-based web scraping and automation library built on Apify. It supports both browser-based and HTTP-based crawling.

Key Features of Crawlee:

✅ Supports JavaScript rendering out of the box.
✅ Can use headless browsers (Puppeteer, Playwright) for dynamic content.
✅ Built-in proxy rotation and CAPTCHA handling.
✅ Supports structured data extraction and storage.

2. Key Differences Between Scrapy and Crawlee

Feature	Scrapy	Crawlee
Language	Python	JavaScript/TypeScript
Speed	Faster (asynchronous requests)	Slower (if using headless mode)
Handles JavaScript?	No (requires Selenium/Playwright)	Yes (native JavaScript support)
Interactivity	No (pure HTTP requests)	Yes (browser automation support)
Best For	Large-scale static scraping	Dynamic JavaScript-heavy sites
Data Storage	JSON, CSV, databases	JSON, key-value stores, cloud databases
Proxy Support	Needs middleware setup	Built-in proxy and CAPTCHA handling

3. When to Use Scrapy vs. Crawlee?

Use Scrapy if:

✔️ You need fast, large-scale scraping.
✔️ The website has static HTML content.
✔️ You work in Python and need structured data extraction.
✔️ You want to store data efficiently in JSON, CSV, or databases.

Use Crawlee if:

✔️ The website is JavaScript-heavy and requires rendering.
✔️ You need to click, scroll, or interact with the page.
✔️ You prefer JavaScript/TypeScript for web scraping.
✔️ You want built-in proxy rotation and CAPTCHA handling.

4. Example: Scrapy vs. Crawlee in Action

Scrapy Example (Extracting Static Data)

pythonCopy codeimport scrapy

class MySpider(scrapy.Spider):
    name = "my_spider"
    start_urls = ["https://example.com"]

    def parse(self, response):
        title = response.css("title::text").get()
        print("Page Title:", title)

Crawlee Example (Scraping JavaScript-rendered Content)

javascriptCopy codeimport { PlaywrightCrawler } from 'crawlee';

const crawler = new PlaywrightCrawler({
    async requestHandler({ page }) {
        const title = await page.title();
        console.log('Page Title:', title);
    },
});

await crawler.run(['https://example.com']);

5. Conclusion: Which is Better?

🔹 Use Scrapy for fast, efficient, and large-scale scraping when the content is static.
🔹 Use Crawlee for JavaScript-heavy websites or when you need browser automation.

👉 If you need scalability and speed, go with Scrapy. If JavaScript rendering and automation are essential, Crawlee is the better choice. 🚀

ApexDelight